headed for the open door
by new-york-lady
Summary: "A small 'thanks' would be nice, Princess." But it's 3am for fuck's sake, and she's too tired to care about who the mysterious stranger is, or to even apologize for ruining what apparently were his books.


**loosely based off of "We Come Running" by YoungBlood Hawke and some ideas from The 100**

**i really don't know what i was doing with this**

**and thanks Karen, for you're contribution about Persephone and Hades :)**

**and Emily, for telling him to get his head out of his ass; it's not a hat **

* * *

_~tell me what you're waiting for_

_look across the great divide~_

It was 6 months into her first year here and she was perfectly fine with having Thalia as her only friend. She didn't need much to get through her days, not when most of it was spent sitting her nights away with her medical textbook and a bottle of wine. There was no time for social activities when she was being pushed to walk in her mother's footsteps. Pushed to walk towards perfection. After all, performing surgery wasn't exactly a skill anybody would wing.

Getting used to her dorm was still on her agenda, too. She had plenty of unpacked boxes being the procrastinator that she is, most of them containing old music notebooks that would never be opened again-but that's another subject that she wouldn't want to get into. She and Thalia have been best friends ever since high school. Nothing has ever shaken their unbreakable bond. In contrast to Thalia's popular and outgoing persona, she herself was more quiet and reserved. But that didn't affect their relationship at all. Being with Thalia always made her feel more…courageous, in a way. Other than that, they've always had each other's backs, no matter the situation.

It was odd how they ended up meeting anyway. They were in biology class for the first time, and while Ally always preferred sitting in the front due to the clear view of the board, apparently so did the confident mocha-haired girl who strut in the classroom right in front of her. "This is my seat, bitch," were the first words that anyone had uttered to her in her high school experience.

Feeling brave enough herself, she replied with an equally sarcastic tone. "Didn't see your name on it, bitch." She knew she was going to regret those words sooner or later, but she didn't expect them both to snicker at the same time and genuinely smile at each other afterwards. There was nothing more to argue about anyway, since there was a seat right next to Ally, perfectly in the front as well, which is how they became biology partners and best friends.

A couple months later, she started to realize that the strong exterior of her best friend was what kept her going despite the life she had to live. Thalia never openly stated it, but she picked it up from the clues. They never went to Thalia's house to hang out. Whenever they went shopping together, Thalia would only look at the price tags and maybe pay for the cheapest item in the store, and she'd never complain. For Ally, though, she knew her own family was privileged. She could be counted as part of the upper class-her mother being one of the best surgeons in the country and her father, a well-respected engineer- which was why she could afford so many things. Thalia knew this, too, since they started to share their lives with each other. She had no problem listening to Ally talk about her life and her family, and was quite fascinated to say the least, with her speaking like she lived a rehearsed fairytale. But when it was Thalia's turn to share something, only the most generalized answers would be her response. "I have a brother," was the most she ever told about her life. And not only to Ally, but to anyone she's met. Thalia didn't like talking about home. Ally didn't push.

It was summer vacation of their junior year when Thalia decided it was finally time to trust somebody. "It's not the biggest house you could imagine, not even as big as yours, but it's home enough for me." And that's how Ally found herself standing in front of probably one of the crappiest apartment buildings she's ever seen. But she wasn't one to judge.

Mismatched furniture decorated the living room and the kitchen of apartment number 320. There were Greek mythology books sprawled across the couch and the floor, and a shirt hanging off an unorganized bookshelf in the corner of the room. While Ally's representation of a home was always clean floors and tidy rooms, Thalia's house seemed more like home to her. Maybe it was the sense of coziness or ease, but she knew they'd be hanging out here a lot more often. She didn't even question who those Greek mythology books belonged to. Or even that shirt. She knew they weren't Thalia's, but that wasn't important.

8 hours later, they're a bunch of tangled limbs on the couch and drunk off of pizza-they were too still too young to _actually_ get drunk-just finishing their series of horror movies. Thalia's fast asleep already, and Ally has to carefully remove herself from the couch to get to the kitchen. The darkness of 3am and the books on the floor didn't seem to make her trip any easier. She was about to fall on her face for the third time in a row, but surprise etches onto her face when she comes into contact with a warm yet strong surface. Definitely not the floor. "What the hell," she mutters to herself as she quickly scrambles back to her feet.

She's this close to thinking she's gone crazy when a dark, deep morning voice interrupts her thoughts midway. "A small 'thanks' would be nice, Princess. Or maybe a replacement of the multiple paperback Greek mythology books you so kindly destroyed." It takes her a couple of seconds to realize that the kitchen light was turned on, and that a dark, shirtless shadow with its arms crossed is standing in front of her, asking for new Greek mythology books.

But it's 3am for fuck's sake, and she's too tired to care about who the mysterious stranger is, or to even apologize for ruining what apparently were _his_ books. She shoves past him towards the kitchen and angrily replies with a "Don't call me _Princess_. Ever."

She's relieved when she's greeted with silence after her response, because hopefully the stranger's finally left her alone. But she almost drops the glass of milk she was holding when she turns around to see the same figure lean back across the island of the kitchen with a smirk in his face. "You're outfit just _begs_ to differ," he says, obviously finding the situation amusing while she finds it utterly provoking. She didn't _want_ to wear her matching pajama set that came with a pink shirt with the word 'princess' written in silver glitter on it and pants with a pattern of crowns all over. Its just that, she forgot to do laundry that week and all her other comfortable sleeping wear were otherwise dirty. She had no other option.

"And I'm sure princesses have better things to do than talk to pestering asses who follow them like the plague."

"Following you, am I? After all, this is my apartment," He looks smug again, seeming to enjoy arguing with this stuck up junior Princess. She's about to ask what he means by 'his apartment' when he starts to talk again. "I'm Austin, Thalia's older brother. " He unfolds his arms from his chest and leans then behind him on the edge of the island, defining the muscles in his biceps and forearms just a little bit more. Maybe a lot more. She's not staring, though.

"Well, I'd love to continue talking with an incompetent jackass- excuse me, I mean _Austin-_but –"

"You sure love using the word ass. I wonder if that's how you like it best." Her cheeks turn the color of dark red, clearly emphasized by the lighting of the room. The teasing in his eyes and the quirk of his mouth hardly seem to make the situation more bearable for the brunette.

"Maybe it's time to take your head out of _yours._"She crosses her arms. "_After all_," she mimics his earlier words, topping it off with the raise of a perfectly shaped eyebrow, "it's not a hat." With the roll of her eyes and the purposeful shove of his shoulder with her shoulder-more so of his chest, because he was so _damn tall-_she saunters off back onto the couch where Thalia was still passed out.

She's already drifting off to sleep herself when she swears she heard a slight chuckle from the distance of the kitchen and the whispering tone of a masculine voice, most likely to himself. "_Definitely Megaera." _The sound of retreating footsteps and a softly closing door put her to sleep.

_~Latinized form of Greek Μεγαιρα (Megaira) which was derived from μεγαιρω (megairo) "to grudge". This was the name of one of the Furies or Ερινυες (Erinyes) in Greek mythology.~_

They make it a habit of coming over to Thalia's house more often, after she explained the "home effect" it had on her. Thalia agreed to make more plans there, but still questioned why Ally didn't like the vastness of her own. She never states this out loud. She does, though, apologize for all the books that were spilled across the floor of the living room the other night, finally admitting that they were her brother's. In fact, that was the only official time she admitted she even had a brother. Ally decided to pretend that she didn't already know about him.

The next time she comes over, it's much neater: all the books are on the shelves, there are no T-shirts stuffed between the couch cushions, and there aren't any piles of papers on the table in front of the T.V. It was nice. But Ally preferred the messiness. She never states this out loud.

* * *

She asks Thalia why her brother never seems to be around the house. She says that he likes to take morning shifts at his job, and takes his college classes later in the day. He's usually still at work by the time they leave school to go to Thalia's apartment. She's perfectly fine with not interacting with him. For a long while. Immediately, she thinks back to the conversation they shared in the kitchen. He was still an ass.

A change of events occur when they come to the apartment one day and see him happily sprawled across the couch watching a movie. He turns his head to the doorway at the sound of them entering the room, and both Thalia and his eyes light up.

"Austin!" She runs and hugs her brother because she hasn't spent time with him in forever, with their schedules always clashing. But she understands, because he always did what he had to do to make sure that everything was paid and Thalia never worried about a thing.

He wraps his arms tightly around her back. "Hey, Lia," his nickname for her was. Ally's still standing off near the doorway, not wanting to interrupt. But in that singular moment, she knows how strong their sibling bond is. She's about to leave because she never really is comfortable with intruding someone's privacy when a voice speaks up.

"Oh, Austin, I have to introduce you my best friend-"

"Princess." Ally looks up and sees him crossing his arms. His infamous smirk is back on his face and she can't help but roll her eyes. She knows it will become a habit if she keeps on talking with him.

She forgets Thalia's even in the room and confidently replies with the term _asshole_.

"I see that you're still fond with that particular body part." He laughs, deep and full of mockery. She glares right back.

"So…I take it that you two have already met." Thalia looks between the two.

At this, Ally smacks her face with her hand and Austin just keeps on laughing.

"You _really _don't want to know how that happened."

* * *

And then they're arguing just a short while after.

"Athena deserved Athens. At least she wasn't an idiot who created a well with salty water."

"Ally. All she did was plant an olive tree."

"That symbolized peace and prosperity on Earth!"

He looks at her.

Thalia looks at her.

"What."

He and Thalia look at each other.

"Alright, but who's the one with a city that has major water shortages now, huh Princess." He catches popcorn in his mouth.

"Yeah, and that's all thanks to you, oh high and mighty Poseidon." She huffs.

He laughs.

She throws popcorn at his head.

Thalia doesn't even know how this argument even started.

* * *

They decide to have another sleepover at the apartment. Everything's all set, from the popcorn and Netflix to the abundant amount of blankets and pillows covering the floor, when Thalia suddenly screams. Austin comes out from his room with messy hair and –_fuck-_no shirt. Again.

Both Austin and Ally are halfway through saying _what the hell_ when Thalia runs out the apartment door with her car keys mumbling about not having the supplies for s'mores. They stare at each other in utter confusion for a good while, but soon Ally realizes that she's alone with Austin. She's the first to break contact and returns to fixing up the blankets. She doesn't have to look up to know that he's still watching her, leaning around the doorway to the living room. At least she's not wearing her princess pajamas this time around. She actually sighs in relief.

10 minutes later and he's still there, having not heard the sound of footsteps walking back down the hall. She decides to move from her current crouching position on the floor to the kitchen in order to bring the two glasses to the table near their make-shift sleeping area. She brings the entire bottle too, and some napkins, thinking that they might spill their drinks at some point. Balancing all these items in one trip prove to be difficult for the brunette, since she's this close to tripping on one of the blankets laid on the floor and spilling everything.

Fortunately, she's successful at completely the journey. She's just about to open the bottle when she feels a warm figure behind her. This doesn't lessen her surprise when a voice breaks the silence. "Need some help with that, Princess?" Her complete surprise causes her to drop the bottle against the table, where the cap bursts open, spraying her shirt with the cider, which was already sticking all over her body.

_"Fuck._ These are the only clothes I have," she whispers to herself.

She hears him snort behind her, and soon, the opening of a bedroom door. She's left standing in her own embarrassment when she feels soft materials thrown at her chest.

He's already walking back to his room, and she's about to reject the offering of clothes when he stops at his door. He doesn't turn around when he says, "Don't worry, they're not mine. They're Thalia's." Then she hears his door close.

Maybe he wasn't _that_ much of an ass.

* * *

Thalia always said she was welcome to the apartment whenever she wanted. After that, she was given a spare key, but never liked coming in without informing one of the Moon siblings in advance.

There's a blizzard the first time she actually uses the key to enter without notifying anybody. Her house was a good 23 miles away from where she was leaving from, and decided to crash at Thalia's apartment. It's the safer option, she would mutter to herself while trying to get her hands to stop shaking in order to get the damn key in the hole. She eventually does, and stumbles into the apartment, swearing to herself that she might actually have hypothermia, and _why didn't I wear more layers today, _and _fuck, I'll just tell my parents I'm over here when I don't feel like a piece of frozen shit._

She kicks the front door closed, throws her bags onto the couch, and barely manages to walk to the heating control on the wall. "Thalia? Are you here?" she calls out while increasing the heat from 65 to 70. "Thalia?" she calls a bit louder when she gets no response.

"_Shit."_

She turns around, her eyes adjusting to the light. She fights the urge to scoff and roll her eyes.

Right on the couch, where she just recently thrown her bags, was an angry looking girl, wearing just a matching pair of underwear and a bra, covered in the items that were once in her bag, and a shocked, shirtless-_of fucking course-_Austin, who has his arms around the girl. She suddenly stands up, the contents of the bag falling off of her body and onto the ground, and looks for her clothes while cursing shamelessly. She tugs her shirt and her pants on with unbelievable aggression, yells at Austin that _next time, tell me that you'll be having a girl over before you fuck me_, and storms out the door.

First there was silence, then a snicker comes from the side of the living room. Ally raises her eyebrows in disbelief of what she just saw before her eyes, but Austin doesn't find the situation as amusing as she does.

He turns around to face her, his expression dark and bitter. "You should have gone to your own house," is all he says to her before quietly walking back to his room.

* * *

_"Don't leave wherever you are folks. Roads will be closed until tomorrow. So hold still, stay warm, and stay safe. More updates on the blizzard are to come."_ She closes the T.V., tired of hearing the same announcements every hour.

_ Worst storm of the decade._

_ Make sure you have enough food._

_ Cannot predict how long it will last._

_ Stay tune._

After establishing the notion that she's entirely done with the invention of the television-technology in general-she pulls out a book from her bag and starts to get into a comfortable position on the couch for her to read her book. But as soon as she opens up to the page that she last read, the apartment abruptly becomes pitch black.

"_Crap._ I'msorryIlovetechnologyjustpleasecomebackon." She has her eyes shut tightly closed. She's perfectly fine, and definitely not afraid of the dark.

Even the heating system has been cut off and the room starts to become alarming cold. She starts shivering again and wraps herself even more in his coat, eyes still closed. Too absorbed in shutting out the darkness from her sight and the algidity of the living room, she doesn't acknowledge the fact that more layers of blankets were wrapped around her shoulders and candles illuminated the obscurity of the area.

Soon enough, she stops shivering as violently as she had before and reopens her eyes to see that the black that once took over was replaced by the dim light of candles.

She looks to her left to see Austin in a sweater and a snuggie, with reading glasses and an ancient mythology book open on his lap. She was about to apologize for what happened earlier when he interrupts the silence himself.

"You know, people have always wondered whether Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds was her own decision, or if Hades tricked her into eating them so that she would stay with him in the underworld. " She stays silent in case he starts talking again. But he is also silent, and she thinks that he's consumed in his own world. A world full of mythological beings and stories. A world that he created to escape reality. Like how she used to do with music.

Her voice comes out softly. "I've always believed Hades had tricked her." She pauses, and he's still silent. "After all, he wanted her to stay with him so desperately. He would do anything to keep her down there with him."

She doesn't know why she's whispering. Maybe it the proximity, maybe it's the intimacy of the candles. All she knows it that her breathing is starting to become uneven, and she doesn't want him to know.

" I have always speculated that she ate them on her own accord, considering the idea that she plausibly had no insight of the consequences." he finally says.

"Of course you would disagree with me," There's a smile on her lips and a roll of her eyes.

The tips of his mouth curve up just a bit.

"Always, Princess," he says gently.

Perhaps she imagined it, but fondness seemed to take over his usual mocking tone whenever he called her that nickname.

* * *

She's sitting at behind the tree of the campus gardens where all three of them like to eat during their lunch hour. It's a truly beautiful garden. There are so many different types of flowers, ranging from azaleas to zinnias, and various types of foliage as well. It's like a scene from a fairytale. But this tree, this willow tree; it's what makes all the magic come alive. With just the right amount of frondescence, the tree provides shade with specks of golden sunlight seeping through its drooping structure. It's a walk through golden rain.

Nobody ever really comes to the campus gardens or appreciates its beauty like the trio. And the privacy and secrecy of the garden that is only shared among them makes it even more special. She always likes to go here during her free time in between classes to read in solitary. Her choice of the day was an ancient Roman mythology that he begged her to read. "Nerd," she mumbles to herself while shaking her head.

From her angle, she has a clear view of the paved outdoor walkway that connects two campus buildings. She looks up to see two figures walking along the path.

_Austin._

She never really approved of his reputation with girls, but they're attracted to him anyway. He knows just how to manipulate a girl and get under her skin. It's the smirk. It always is. The one that makes her want to roll her eyes every time he brings it up.

Other girls might like it, but she prefers the soft smile that grazes his feature when he gets lost in his own little mythological world.

She prefers his secret, genuine smile.

After the smirk it's basically a hook, line, and sinker for him. That's how easy it is. To say that he's fucked over half of the female population might be putting it lightly.

She wonders how a tool like him even has a 4.0 GPA.

_Lucky bastard._

The two have stopped walking, and he's backed up the girl up onto one of the pillars that line the walkway. In the next moment, they're making out with hardly any shame to spare. His hands are placed on the sides of her head, against the pillar, caging the girl in. But it's not like she was going to leave anyway.

Unfortunately for Ally, she's close enough to hear the sounds they're making. For the next 6 minutes, she tries to read her book, but hasn't made it past one paragraph without having to reread it to fully understand what just happened in the story.

The kissing session eventually ends, but it seems like the two are not finished.

"You want to go to the Fright Fest with me on Friday?" she hears him ask the girl. The red-head giggles-fucking _giggles-_and twirls a strand of hair between her fingers.

He always does this-asks them to see a horror film or go through a haunted house. It makes it easier for him when they get scared, and he comforts them they best way he knows. Back at the apartment on his bed.

But Ally knows him better than that.

If he really wanted to take out a girl, he wouldn't take her out to a movie, let alone a scary one at that.

"_With a movie," _he told her one time. "_you never get the chance to get to know the person."_

Besides.

He hates scary movies.

And only she would know that.

* * *

She doesn't know why she even brought any of her music with her. It's not like she'd get the chance to. She has to focus on medical school, and that leaves her with barely any free time. But she couldn't just let go. A part of her was her music. She was so convinced that she could make a career out of it. But it was just a petty little dream.

She still likes to roam through all her old things, though. Her old self. Throwing them out would be like throwing away a piece of her past.

She looks at all her old song lyrics, all her old side notes. She remembers writing about her first heart break and her biggest fear. She wrote down everything she was in her music. And she was pretty damn good at it. But that's not what her mother had to say about it.

Sometimes she'll hum the melodies of her finished songs to herself, and sometimes add a bit for to her unfinished songs. She's looking at one of her favorite compositions that she made in senior year of high school, and instantly, she feels a surge of nostalgia course through her. Senior year wasn't long ago, last year in fact, but this was the last song she ever wrote.

He drifts from his dorm towards her, which are exactly across from each other. He was bored; so naturally, he wanted to annoy the princess. This has become a frequent activity of his. Possibly one of his favorites. _Possibly._

But then one moment he hears her delicate voice, and next he's leaning against her door frame and listening to her sing the words of one of her songs. Her door was open, as it usually is, because she hates the loneliness of her room when it's closed. She's never told anyone that forthrightly, but he pays attention. He knows a lot about her just by watching, like how she always puts others before herself or plays with her father's watch when she gets nervous.

She doesn't notice that he's there watching her, and he wants to keep it that way. He seldom sees her like this-open and free.

When he first met her, back to the conversation they shared at 3am in the morning in his kitchen, he always thought of her as one of the privileged. The way Thalia had always talked about her, with her large house and two highly acknowledged working parents, he thought that she had it easy in life. He and Thalia's father left the family when they were both young, and after their mother had died 4 years ago, he's had to fight in order to have Thalia under his custody. He had to find a job that would pay the bills and the rent, and so that Thalia would have some spending money. He loved his sister so incredibly much, and would do anything to keep a smile on her face. But hearing her talk about Ally made him feel inadequate, like what he was doing wasn't enough.

After a while, he's learned that he's overestimated her. He's heard her confess so many things she'd never say out loud during her drunken nights with Thalia. Her mom has always pushed her to study in the medical field, but when she took up music in high school, her mother wouldn't even look at her. Her mother looked down upon her, telling her that she would never make it into the music business. The only thing that would keep her going is her father, who supported her no matter what she did.

She received a record deal when she was just 16, but her mother wouldn't let her accept it. After being shamed by her mother for so long because of her love and talent for music, she decided to drop her entire ambition. She took medical courses over the last two summers, and now she's taking a medical major in college. Maybe music was her talent, but she would make a pretty damn good surgeon, too.

Besides, she's already learned everything from one of the best surgeons in the country. Her mother made sure she knew everything. And now she does.

She's still singing with her soft, melodic voice, and he watches the sunlight entering from her window catch in her hair.

Sometimes he forgets that she's his little sister's best friend.

But she's still his princess.

She always will be.

* * *

She's still sitting there on her bed, 6 months into freshman year of college, with her medical textbook and a bottle of finely aged wine. She wore her favorite oversized university sweater with a billion different stains on it and her lazy yoga pants. Her hair was up in a messy bun.

Her door is still always wide open.

He had his reading glasses on, studying to become a history teacher. He wore his favorite plaid shirt with the first 3 buttons undone and a pair of his signature ripped jeans.

He likes to leave his door wide open now, if it means getting to see his princess.

He hasn't had the time to talk to her in a while.

She's humming a tune to herself, something completely original, but she doesn't notice.

He does.

She keeps on humming.

He keeps on listening.

She's feels a nice, warm buzz settle within her after taking another swig from the bottle.

Now he's just staring.

* * *

He can't take it anymore.

He gets up from his chair, walks over to her room, pulls the bottle from her hand, takes a drink for himself, and then puts the bottle on the floor.

She pushes herself to the edge of the bed, her legs dangling off, and raises her eyebrows, silently asking him _what do you think you're doing?_

He really doesn't have an explanation for her tacit question, so he just pulls her up from her sitting position and kisses her.

If he didn't kiss her at that moment, then _goddamn_, he would've probably had the strongest will power that has ever existed.

But he doesn't.

He's weak.

In the next instant, he has her pushed against the wall of her dorm and has his hands underneath her sweater. His hands trail all over her bare skin. He needs it all, and she's his drug. Then her sweater is off, and her messy bun is loosened until her dark, chestnut hair is all over her shoulders and spilling down her back. He's kissing her neck and she's saying his name, over and over again, and that might just be his favorite song that he's ever heard her sing.

He reaches for the clip of her bra, ultimately ready to take it off until he stops.

He doesn't want to push her like this.

He's about to pull himself off of her-off of his high-when she pulls him right back in. She has her hands curled in his hair, eyes closed, and tugs. One. Twice.

"_Princess."_ He says it like a warning.

And she knows what he's saying. They don't need words to understand each other.

_I don't want you to regret this._

She opens her eyes.

"_Do me, asshole."_ She smiles.

* * *

this was not thoroughly proofread

i get lazy like that :/


End file.
